Freshman from Tucson found dead at Wabash College frat

CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. — A Wabash College freshman from Tucson was found dead over the weekend in a fraternity house, and authorities said alcohol was possibly involved.

Johnny D. Smith, 18, was found unconscious Sunday morning at the Delta Tau Delta fraternity house and members called for an ambulance, said Jim Russell, the fraternity’s national executive vice president.

Smith was pronounced dead at the scene, and Crawfordsville Police Chief Kurt Knecht said Monday that investigators suspected that alcohol was involved in Smith’s death, but were waiting for autopsy results and toxicology tests.

Smith’s mother, Stacy Smith, told The Indianapolis Star that her son was found face down in a pool of vomit.

An autopsy was scheduled later this week for Smith and toxicology tests could take about a month to complete, Montgomery County Coroner Darren Forman said.

Russell said Smith, who was a freshman at Wabash, lived at the Delta Tau Delta house and had pledged to the fraternity, but had not yet been initiated. Russell declined to say whether there was a party at the fraternity the night before Smith’s death.

Wabash President Patrick E. White and other school officials, including the counseling director, spent time with students at the all-male college Sunday. White said the school of some 900 students about 40 miles northwest of Indianapolis was mourning Smith’s death.

“Johnny was a tremendous young man,” White said. “He was part of a brotherhood of Wabash men, and we grieve for him, his family, and his brothers at this difficult time.”

Smith came to Wabash from Tucson’s Desert View High School, where he was involved in marching band and was a member of the football and lacrosse teams, Wabash officials said.

Geri Fisher, Smith's honors biology teacher at Desert View, recalled the young man as an “excellent student” who “studied hard and took many honors and advanced placement courses.”

He was a member of the marching band, jazz band and the football team.

Desert View football coach Jim Monaco stated “He was an amazing young man ... We are devastated by his loss.”

Smith was one of six Desert View football players who signed a national letter of intent to play college football last February.

The six football signees were the most from any one school in Southern Arizona to sign last school year.

“To be the high school with the most football players signing this year, that’s a real sense of pride for us,” Smith told the Arizona Daily Star at the time.

He was an offensive and defensive lineman.

Smith’s name was not listed on the Wabash football team’s online roster Monday.

Desert View and Sunnyside School District counselors have been meeting with students and staff members today, according to a letter from Principal Dawn Maddock-Pea.

Counselors will be available throughout the week.

Funeral arrangements are pending.